NPU: Battle of the Labyrinth
by Uzumaki Crossover
Summary: Naruto is back once more and better than ever. With war looming on the horizon, our favorite demi deity is prepared for anything. Join him as he joins Annabeth on her quest through the infamous Labyrinth. Will they survive to save the camp or will they lose themselves into insanity. You already know the pairings. Rated M for a reason
1. Not Just High School Evil

**NPU4: Battle of the Labyrinth**

**Chapter 1**

**Not Just High School Evil**

**Been awhile, eh? I know, I have been doing…other things like reading other stories, the local festival with garage sales, watching bits of other anime, new video games, and trying to return to this story to see where I left off.**

**Well, I am back! And will going back to the original way I did this since last time there was not many songs….and there still won't be. I am really doing them for the girls. Silena and Zoe have yet to do one and I have picked some good ones.**

**XXX**

Camp Half-Blood. It is a safe haven for those that are not quite human. They are something more. They are half human, half god, otherwise known as Demi-gods. Many are probably wonder why these Demi-gods would have to hide there.

Well, they are hiding from monsters of Greek Mythology. They hide there while they train to eventually protect their new found home or they go out in the world to live their lives. However, most of the human population doesn't know about their people or the dangers they have to face every day of their lives. They are blinded by the Mist that protects that world from knowing that creatures of old still live.

And it is better that way.

Right now, one of the more well-known campers was on the roof of the Big House, looking at the night sky with a peace look on his face. In his arms was Zoe Nightshade, one of his girlfriends. Now many would think that statement is a bit weird and he was one of those guys that chronically cheated on his girlfriend, but that far from the truth.

The truth is, he is a rare Demi-god. A son of the Big Three due to his parent, most would think that would make his like his older siblings of the past. A very dark person. Again that is not the case. He is not just the Son of Hades, God of the Underworld. His blood is combined with that of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Nyx, the Primordial Goddess of the Night. Plus, he was claimed by Hera, Queen of the Gods of Olympus, making him further protected from Hades' dark blood, as some would call it.

All that and more had molded Naruto into that man he is today, a caring man that looks lout for his friends and family no matter what. A stark contrast to his many siblings of the past who have taken the path of darkness.

But there is a reason that darkness exists. Being in the underworld for so long has sparked it and what fueled it was the constant death and torture of wicked souls within the underworld. It has all seeped into Hades' very being and then passed on to his many children. But it is not truly his fault. He is just a victim of circumstance. Thankfully with the addition to his family in the form of his second wife and his life in the Elemental Countries, he has lightened up considerably.

But back to Naruto, his mixed blood has given him a chance in this world and with his uniqueness, blood and personality alike, it has made him desirable to some women. Normally one would not be able to handle this, but with each individual interaction with these girls, they have each fallen for him and with some reluctance for some, have agreed to share him.

In this case with Zoe, he had respected her as a woman and proved to her that he was a worthy human being that she could grow to love. The ex-hunter who once fell for the legend that is Hercules and then got her heart broken by the same man, had fallen for a man who was better that Herc the Jerk in her eyes. He was everything she wanted and despite being able to defend herself, he made her feel safe. He made her happy.

Zoe leaned back into his chest with a happy smile. Yes, he made her happy and loved and that's was all she ever wanted when she was with him. Back during her hunter days, she had felt a void that neither her sister hunters nor Artemis herself could fill. The problem was that she had tasted love once with Hercules and when he left, it hurt. It hurt so much that she threw herself at Artemis and became a hunter to try and fill the void, but once one has tasted love they are forever bound by it. Such is life.

Looking at the sky, they were treated to a rarity in the night sky. A supermoon. To the mythical world, it was a sign that Artemis was at her strongest. To the rest of the world, it was explained with science that the moon was on its closest approach to the Earth on its elliptical orbit. Whatever the case, it was beautiful and it proved to be a romantic sight for the two love birds.

Naruto was happy as well. Even if he had things to do tomorrow, like go with Percy to check out the open house at Goode High School tomorrow and then meet up with Annabeth. He just wanted to enjoy his time with Zoe for a little while longer like he did with Silena earlier that day.

Zoe also felt a bit odd at the moment. She was extremely happy and that was good, but there was a certain urge in her as well. Thalia and Clarisse had both warned her off it since Naruto did it a lot due to his fascination with Disney movies. Oh well, it can't be helped and she liked everything about Naruto, even his oddities. If she had to sing, so be it. She had a great voice and she often sang with her follow hunters, so why not.

With her smile growing as she looked at the moon, which was larger and brighter now, she felt like she could touch it. She also saw a multitude of stars in the night sky and that made her want to sing even more. So closing her eyes for the moment, she began her song.

"All those days watching from the windows, All those years outside looking in, All that time never even knowing, Just how blind I've been." Zoe began with a quick peek on the cheek to Naruto, making him smile even more. "Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight, Now I'm here, suddenly I see. Standing here, it's all so clear, I'm where I am meant to be!"

Looking up, the stars seemed to get brighter around them and her voice carried itself on the wind, making the already quiet camp, even more so as those that were still awake listened in with smiles on their faces.

And at last I see the light, And it's like the fog has lifted. And at last I see the light, And it's like the sky is new. And it's warm and real and bright. And the world has somehow shifted. All at once everything looks different. Now that I see you."

Naruto knew this song very well. It was from one of his favorite movies, one of the best Disney movies and it made him smile as he sang along. "All those days chasing down a daydream, All those years living in a blur. All that time never truly seeing, Things, the way they were. Now she's here shining in the starlight. Now she's here, suddenly I knew. If she's here it's crystal clear, I'm where I'm meant to go."

They had both gotten up at this point and instead of staring at the view of the beautiful night, they were staring into each other's eyes and both sang. "And at last I see the light."

"And it's like the frog has lifted." Naruto sang with a smile as he lifted a stray hair on her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"And at last I see the light!" They sang.

"And it's like the sky is new." Zoe sang next.

"And it's warm and real and bright,And the world has somehow shifted." The two sang as their faces seemed to get closer and closer. "All at once, everything looks different, Now that I see you. Now that I see you."

They ended the song with a kiss with only the night sky as witness to their love. Well, it was not the only witness. Annabeth, was by the Big House door had been close and listening with a smile on her own face.

As she slowly walked to her cabin with the other children of Athena, she wondered if she would be like that with Percy. Honestly, she was still confused about her feelings about Percy and then Luke, but maybe soon she would figure it out. If Naruto, the man she saw as an older brother, could do so with love, maybe she could figure it out.

XXX

"Finally! I finally have his blade done!" Naruto said as he held a new black and silver pen. No one but him and Beckendorf had ever seen it and Naruto wanted to keep it that way until Percy actually got his new sword.

"That's nice and all, but we still need to finish that _other_ blade. It is only half way done and the last quarter of it will require something of great power that I doubt the Gods will willingly give you." Charles replied.

"Yeah, but if worse comes to worse I'll just seal the strongest monster I meet into it and it will be the next best thing." Naruto while rubbing the back of his head and then looked at the clock. "A crap, I'm going to be late."

"I guess you're right." Charles said. "Well, hurry up and get back so we can finish Clarisse's new spear."

"Right-O!" Naruto said as he walked out the door of Charles' smithy. It was a great little place to go to work and leave your mind to wander.

As soon as he was outside, a Hispanic kid, a few years younger than him, walked right up to Naruto and smiled. "Oh? Hey, Chris. How are you doing?"

Chris' smile seemed to grow a lot at that. "A lot better thanks to you. If you hadn't convinced Mr. D. to cure me of my Labyrinth induced insanity before he left, I would probably still be insane and I think I would have driven Clarisse up the wall."

"Yeah, no doubt about that." Naruto replied with a good natured laughed. "But would have been worry."

"Yeah," Chris said a little embarrassed. "She is awesome like that. She is like a big sister to me, which is weird since she is a daughter of Ares. But whatever, she was cool to me before she saved my ass and she would not stop talking about you."

"Really?" Naruto asked a little surprised.

"Yeah. She was worried you, the ninja demi-god, would get hurt trying to help Artemis and the Hunters." Chris explained but then paled. "Don't tell her I said that. She is still not above kicking her new brother's ass."

"HA!" Naruto laughed and he patted Chris on the back. "That's true. She is strong will like that. That's why I like her." Come to think of it, all the girls in their own way were strong willed. Awesome.

"Yep…now I gotta go man." Chris stated, thinking that he would be late for one the camp's activities.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll be late too if I don't go now." Naruto said, but Chris just nodded. It was no secret that Chris didn't want to talk about Percy…or any other son of Poseidon. After, one of them was the cause of his insanity in the labyrinth and he was going to be wary of Percy.

So Chris left to do his own thing at camp and that left Naruto by himself again. As he passed through camp, he passed by many of his friends like the Stroll Brothers that he often pranked people alongside and then one of his girlfriends in the form of Silena.

"Hey, Silena. What are you up to today?" Naruto asked when he saw a scroll in her hands.

The girl smirked at him and said, "Oh, I am just getting ready for cabin inspections. I hope yours is not _too dirty_."

Naruto smiled at her said, "Oh I am sure you will like it."

"Good!" The girl chirped happily as she pecked him on the cheek and started on her merry way. "See you when you get back from get Percy!"

"Yeah…" Naruto said as he watched her leave, her ass shaking in just the right way, making him wonder if she was doing it on purpose. Finally, he shook his head and a panicked look crossed his face. "Crap crap crap! **Shadow Clone Jutsu!" **The shadows around camp morphed into two more of him. "Ok guys, get our cabin clean before Silena checks on it!"

"Right!" The two copies shouted and then rushed off to do as ordered.

"Ugh, thank you for reminding me." Naruto mumbled to himself.

"Wow…do all of you have him whipped?" Annabeth's voice asked, but not to him. That made him turn around to see Annabeth and Clarisse smirking at him.

"We wouldn't be good girlfriends if we didn't." Clarisse stated with her arms crossed and a smug look on her face.

"Ha Ha." Naruto deadpanned, but in the back of his mind, he knew it was true. "So, Annabeth, You taking the long way or do you want to catch a ride with me?"

"Well, you are the one that needs to take the orientation with Percy since his mom asked you to. I'll go ahead and take the long way."

"Suit yourself." Naruto said before Clarisse grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "Can't help you?"

"I never did properly thank you for helping my new little brother." She said before she smashed her lips to his. This led to a small war of the tongues that made Annabeth blush. Reluctantly pulling away, Naruto smiled at her and said, "You know, that kid is not that small."

"Meh, whatever. Small to me since I see him as a _little_ brother. He is younger than me, so he is small." Clarisse replied.

"Fair enough." Naruto said as he back up and then saluted. "Later!" With that, Naruto disappeared in a black flash.

"Man that is badass." Clarisse replied with a grin.

"I am still trying to figure out that book of seals he gave me." Annabeth said, shaking her head at all the weird symbols appearing in her mind's eye, giving her a head ache.

XXX

Naruto appeared in the back on Mrs Jackson's car. He was greeted to the site of Sally embarrassing her son. They hadn't noticed his entry yet, so he decide to watch the show with a smile.

"It's not a date!" Percy protested. "It's just Annabeth, Mom. Jeez!"

"She's coming all the way from camp to meet you." Mrs. Jackson replied with a serious face, but he was having trouble not smiling.

"Well, yeah."

"You're going to the movies."

"Yeah."

"Just the two of you."

"Mom!"

Sally held up her hands in surrender, but Percy could tell she was trying hard not to smile. Naruto, however, chuckled, making the two jump in their seats. "Someone is protesting a little much. Besides, even if I am there, I could just do my own thing and let you lovebirds fly."

"Naruto! When did you get here?" Sally asked, knowing about his strange teleporting ability, but it still scared the crap out of her. Percy on the other hand, his face grew red. Sometimes it was annoying to have a friend with the blood of Aphrodite in him.

"Oh, a few seconds ago." Naruto replied with a good natured smile. "However, instead of announcing myself, I decided to sit back and watch the show."

"Jerk." Percy said, but with the smile on his face, it was not in anger.

Sally shook her head. "Well, you two better get going. Thanks again Naruto for coming along and thinking about joining the school with Percy."

"No problem Mrs. Jackson." Naruto replied while he saw that Percy looked a little distracted. Looking in the boy's line of sight, he saw the girl from Hoover Dam. _Huh, small world._

"Percy?" Sally asked. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Percy stammered. "Does the school have a side entrance?"

"Down the block on the right. Why?"

"I'll see you later." Percy said, quickly getting out and running to said entrance.

"What was that about?" Sally asked.

Naruto sighed. "Oh he just saw a girl we met back at Hoover Dam." That made Sally raise an eyebrow. "Apparently in his panic against those walking skeletons, he sliced her with his sword…but thankfully our metal doesn't hurt mortals. After that she helped us get away. Oh and she is like you, able to see past the mist."

"Did not expect that." Sally said surprised.

"Yeah well, this reunion should be interesting. I'll seeya later." Naruto said as he got out of the car with Sally saying her good byes.

Naruto sighed as he walked right up to Mr. Blofis, who was greeting students at the door. The red head from the Dam was still there as well and when she caught sight of Naruto, she froze for a second, thinking that more of their troubles were nearby. She wasn't far off.

Naruto took her hesitation to speak with Mr. Blofis. "Hey, Mr. Blofis."

"Ah! Naruto!" The man said, having met the boy when the blond came over to visit Percy. He had offered a position at the school as well and was glad too him there. "I am glad you took my offer!"

"Thanks for that by the way." Naruto said but then frowned. "Hey, I saw Percy go around to the side entrance. But he might be having some trouble with the cheerleaders blocking the door. You know, high school evil and all that."

Mr. Blowfis sighed as he held the bridge of his nose. Right, how could he forget that. He ran the school after all. "Right, I'll go check on him." He said, turning to leave.

"Oh and before you go, read this after you help him. It will explain a lot of our situation and it might give you a little insight on our messed up word."

Mr. Blofis took it with a raised eyebrow, but shrugged and walked off to greet Percy.

Naruto watched him leave and felt the red head's stare on his back. Deciding to stop ignoring her, he said, "Long time no see. Has the cat let go of your tongue yet?"

"Oh don't give me that blondie!" The red head replied a little miffed from before. "The hell are you doing here….and if you're here, I bet Percy is too. I have some worlds for him after he tried killing me!"

"Tried being the operative word seeing as you are still vertical and breathing." Naruto replied with a slight smirk. Percy had told him that she was a little annoying. Well, so was he and Percy rarely complained about that.

"Har Har." The red head replied. "Anyway, my name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I remember Percy's name….well his first name anyway. But I don't remember yours."

Naruto motioned the girl to walk with him asn they made their way to the gym for orientation. "Name's Naruto Uzumaki."

"Nice to meet you then." Rachel replied. "So what was all that before? Did you get away from the walking skeletons or are you both hiding out here?"

Naruto chuckled. "No, the unrelenting bounty hunters of the dead are dealt with." At that, the red headed girl looked him like he had grown a second head.

"So wait, those things were actually real?!" Rachel asked.

"Yeah and it would seem you have a unique ability for a mortal."

"There's that word again." Rachel said, "Percy called me the same thing. Are you telling you aren't human."

Before Naruto could answer, Percy appeared down the hall, took a look at the two and then bolted for the gym, making Rachel look at Naruto to answer her first question and then to what was Percy's deal.

Naruto sighed before looking back at the girl. He could tell she had an interest in the son of Poseidon. Seems his grandmother's magic was working to make Percy's life interesting for her. Go figure.

"To answer your question….sometimes. We are human but with something else." Naruto replied, not knowing if he should give her the full explanation or not.

"You're not very helpful." Deadpanned the girl, making the blond shrug his shoulders. "So what is with Percy?"

"Probably freaking out about how you will react seeing him again after 'he tried to kill you.'"

"Ah."

"Yeah, come on." Naruto as he led her into the gym. "You can have you fun with him in a few minutes with this thing is over."

XXX

Paul Blofis was a rational man that had sympathy for the less fortunate. He did have a great life, he was a teacher. An English Teacher to be exact. And he had a girlfriend that he met at a seminar. Yes, he was happy.

However, he felt hat Sally and Percy were hiding something from him. That was the feeling he got when he heard about Percy's record for the many schools he had attended. However, he didn't think that was Percy's felt or that the boy was purposefully doing these things. The boy was mentally healthy, that he could attest to.

But he could not figure out the problem!

Thankfully, that Naruto kid, one of Percy's friends, had given him something to think on. The letter in his hand had indeed explained a few things, but again, they were vague. Monsters in reality was a bit farfetched.

Still, the way Sally reacted to certain people….it made him wonder. Thankfuly Naruto was smart enough to see that he would need actual proof to believe him. However, that was in the form of an odd drawing at the bottom of the letter that had Japanese letters in it. All he was supposed to do was put his thumb on it and he would have his proof.

Of he would be skeptical that a drawing would give him the sight needed, but he was also afraid. Afraid of seeing the truth of things.

Shaking his head, he would figure this all out later. Still he kept the letter in his hands with the odd drawing outward in case he was tempted to see. He quickly walked into the gym and was accosted with the many sounds of a school orientation.

He saw the many students getting to know each other, teachers greeting students, the marching band playing the school song, and the student council members and cheerleaders trying to make the students feel welcome. This was his environment and while he knew about the typical high school evils, he was not prepared to know what other evils lurked in his school.

As he contemplated everything that was going on in his own life, he completely ignored his boss, the principle's speech. Not like most of the students could hear the man anyway. They needed new speakers.

He looked around to see Percy in the bleachers with Naruto and the red headed girl he met earlier. They were quietly talking to each other, like the two boys knew the girl from some place far away and are seeing each other again.

As the main cheerleaders, Tammi and Kelli, if he remembered correctly, started their own speech and general pep to get the crowd going and making the student feel welcome, he noticed something odd. The red haired girl took one look at the two cheerleaders and look of fear grew on her face. Like she was seeing something he did not. Like Sally.

Soon after, she seemed to urge to boys to leave, like they were endanger. When they didn't, she just got up and ran like her own life was on the line. Paul caught Naruto's eye and the boy nodded at him before he seemed to flicker, but that was it and it was odd. Looking at Percy, the boy just seemed confused.

Paul looked down at the drawing on the paper and took a shaky breath. He needed to see and he would take Naruto's advice to not freak out at what he saw. Shakily putting his thumb over the drawing, he suddenly felt disoriented as he vision was filled with what looked to be mist before that cleared up to reveal the world as it was.

Looking at the cheerleaders, his face paled at what made the red haired girl scared and run for her life. They were not human at all and he felt that he knew that these…things…were from Greek Mythology.

"My god…" He whispered with wide eyes before they narrowed. He needed to expand his own studies once more if he wanted to be with Sally and protect Percy.

Still, it brought a question to mind, what was Percy to these creatures if they were always tormenting him?

XXX

Naruto and Percy managed to find Rachel in the band room of the school. She was hiding behind a bass drum in the percussion section. "Get over here!" she said. "Keep your heads down!"

Percy frowned as he felt silly hiding behind some bongo, but did so anyway. Naruto just shrugged as he sat down next to her.

"Did they follow you?" Rachel asked.

"You mean the cheerleaders?" Percy asked.

She nodded nervously.

"I am pretty sure we weren't followed." Naruto replied, both boys noticing that her green eyes were wide with fear. She had a sprinkle of freckles on her face that reminded me of constellations. Her maroon T-shirt read HARVARD ART DEPT. "You…you wouldn't believe me."

"Really?" Naruto drawled out, not believing her. "Did you for about the skeletons already?"

Percy looked at Naruto for a moment as he too remember the skeleton warriors that tracked all across the U.S. He shook his head and said, "Yeah, we will believe you since you can see through the mist."

"The what?" She asked.

"The Mist. It's…well, it's like this veil that hides the way things really are.

Some mortals are born with the ability to see through it. Like you."

"And Percy's mom." Naruto offered.

"Right." Percy confirmed.

Rachel studied the boy carefully, her earlier conversation with Naruto coming back into her thoughts. "Mortal…you called me that at the Dam and then Naruto called me that earlier. What are you then?"

Percy gave Naruto an annoyed look but sighed. He should have known Naruto would say that as well. It was not like it was top secret information after all.

"Tell me," she begged. "You know what it means. All these horrible things I see?"

"Look, this is going to sound weird. Do you know anything about Greek myths?"

"Like…the Minotaur and the Hydra?"

"Yeah, just try not to say those names when I'm around, okay?" Percy asked with a panicked look on his face, like the creatures were going to start crawling out of the walls.

Naruto noticed this and patted the boy on the back. "Lighten up man, we killed those, remember?"

Rachel raised an eyebrow at that one but continued with her line of thought. "And the Furies," she said, warming up. "And the Sirens, and—"

"Okay! That's enough please!" Percy said, not at all comforted by the fact that they did die, but monster do respawn often enough….like the Furies. "I would rather not talk about those three crazies right now!"

"Oh they are not that bad." Naruto said, waving him off. "They are more like grandma's to me" Naruto paused at that as he struck a thinking pose while Percy gave him a deadpanned stare. "We haven't run into Sirens yet."

It was at that point that they heard a lot of noise. It seemed that the orientation in the gym was over and students were piling out a exploring the school. "All those monsters," Percy said, "all the Greek gods—they're real."

"I knew it!" she cried, making both boys wonder how long she has been wanting that answer.

"You don't know how hard it's been," she said. "For years I thought I was going crazy. I couldn't tell anybody. I couldn't—" Her eyes narrowed. "Wait. Who are you? I mean _really?_"

"We're not monsters." Percy stated, making the girl roll her eyes.

"Well, I know that. I could _see _if you were. You look like…you. Butyou're not human, are you? Blondie here mentioned that you were only half human."

"Do you want the long version or the short version?" Naruto asked.

"Short!" The girl said.

"We're half bloods." Naruto said, making the girl more confused.

"We're half human." Percy said, not sure if they should actually tell her."

"And the other half?" Rachel asked.

"Think about it. What do ancient greek mythological creatures usually hunt?" Naruto spoke with a riddle, making Rachel go quiet as she thought about it.

Just then Tammi and Kelli stepped into the band room. The doors slammed shut behind them with Kelli staying by the doors to keep a look out.

"There you are, Percy Jackson," Tammi said. "It's time for your orientation."

Kelli looked at Naruto and smiled. "Oh and you brought Naruto Uzuamaki as well, this should be fun!"

"They're horrible!" Rachel gasped.

Tammi and Kelli were still wearing their purple-and-white cheerleader costumes, holding pom-poms from the rally.

"What do they really look like?" Percy asked, but Rachel seemed too stunned to answer.

"Oh, forget her." Tammi gave Percy a brilliant smile and started walking toward them. Kelli stayed by the doors, blocking the exit. Her beauty had Percy captivated and Naruto couldn't blame him, but he knew they were dealing with something dangerous, so he wasn't as affected. Plus, he already had a few girls.

"Percy," Rachel warned.

"Uhhh?" Percy replied…a bit distracted.

"Oh come on!" Rachel hissed before turning to Naruto. "We could use your help….Percy sees the opposite of what I see."

"So it is not just high school evil then?" Naruto asked.

"Duh!" She said, and then shouted at Percy to snap out of it.

"Great…evil evil." Naruto dead panned as he smacked the back of Percy's head as he cut off the annoying mist, revealing the girls' true forms. The color drained out of the girls' faces and arms. Their skin had turned a pale white and their teeth grew into fangs and then was not the weirdest part. Below the cheerleaders skirts, the left leg was brown and shaggy with a donkey's hoof. The right leg was shaped like a human leg, but it was made of bronze.

"What the…a vampire!" Percy shouted, noticing the top half first. The he looked down and saw the legs. "With…"

"Don't mention the legs!" Tammi snapped. "It's rude to make fun!"

"Great…due to the setting, I am getting a twilight vibe from this." Naruto deadpanned, a little annoyed.

"Argh! I hate that movie. Tarnishes the image we created all those years ago!" Kelli screamed.

"Oh I like these monsters?" Naruto asked. "but why don't I hear a Transylvanian accent?"

"Because you idiot!" Kelli screamed. We are empousai! Servants of Hecate!"

"Mmmm." Tammi edged closer to the boys. "Dark magic formed us from animal, bronze, and ghost! We exist to feed on the blood of young men. Now come, give me a kiss!"

"I'd rather not." Naruto said as he and Percy drew their blades, to which Tammi just sneered at, but before they could do anything, Rachel gained some courage and threw a snare drum at Tammi's head.

The demon hissed and batted the drum away. It went rolling along the aisles between music stands, its springs rattling against the drumhead. Rachel threw a xylophone, but the demon just swatted that away, too.

"I don't usually kill girls," Tammi growled. "But for you, mortal, I'll make an exception. Your eyesight is a little too good!" She lunged at Rachel.

"No!" percy slashed with Riptide. Tammi tried to dodge his blade, but he sliced straight through her cheerleader uniform, and with a horrible wail she exploded into dust all over Rachel.

Rachel coughed. She looked like she'd just had a sack of flour dumped on her head. "Gross!"

"Monsters do that," Percy said, a bit sheepishly. "Sorry."

"You killed my trainee!" Kelli yelled. "You need a lesson in school spirit, half-blood!" Then she too began to change. Her wiry hair turned into flickering flames. Her eyes turned red. She grew fangs. She loped toward them, her brass foot and hoof clopping unevenly on the band-room floor.

"I am senior _empousa_," she growled. "No hero has bested me in a thousand years."

"Oh really?" Naruto said from behind her. The shell shocked monster looked behind her to see that Naruto was indeed behind her, with his black blade, Destruction, on her throat and the red fox like blade, Fear, point at her side, ready to impale her. "Then I think you are overdue."

"Gah! So it is true what they say about you!" Kelli growled. "The demi-god from that ninja based world…fine, you win, but not for long! Soon your camp will be in flames and all your friends will be our slaves!" She laughed, before bursting into a strange powder, coving Naruto with it.

"Ugh! Gross!" Naruto replied.

"Did not expect that." Percy said, a little miffed about that being too easy.

"So what, the monsters can now use a clone jutsu that covers you in itchy powder?" Naruto asked a little annoyed and itching all over the place.

It was then they heard more voices and it sounded like they were coming closer. "Oh crap, you guys need to get the hell out of here. This place looks like a mess I am not sure what people will think." Rachel told them.

"Right, but we are not leaving you to deal with that." Percy said before looking at Naruto.

The blond shrugged before taking hold of their shoulders. "Hold your breath."

"Hold me wha-" Rachel started to say before they disappeared from the room in a black flash. Paul Blofis opened the door a few seconds later to find the room empty but trashed.

"Ugh, the music teacher is not going to like this." He groaned.

XXX

Annabeth was in a good mood as she strolled on East 81st. Percy and Naruto were almost done with the orientation at their new school, so she was going to meet them. With Naruto there, it wasn't much of a date between her and Percy, so she decided to wear jeans and an orange camp T-shirt and her clay bead necklace. Her hair was in a ponytail.

Still, if Naruto decided to go and do his own thing, then it would be a date and she was a little nervous about that.

Suddenly the air in front of her burst into black flames, signifying that Naruto was going to appear. Good thing no one else was around. When the black flames disappeared, Naruto, Percy, and a girl she never met before appeared, with said girl falling on her side and groaning, looking a little green.

And just like that, her good mood was gone. What the hell happened in that school to make them do this?! "What did you do now Percy?"

Percy looked up and say the girl and then it registered what she said. "Hey! Why are you blaming me?!"

"Because you're the like source of trouble." Annabeth replied with a serious tone.

"Oh come on. It could have been Naruto!" Percy whined.

"True." Annabeth relented, knowing that both of them could get into trouble a lot.

"Ugh…." The red haired girl moaned as she got back up.

"Don't worry, you get used to it after a while.

"No you won't." Both Percy and Annabeth deadpanned.

"I don't want to do that again." The girl stated.

Annabeth finally decided she needed to know who she was. "And she is…whom?"

"Oh, Rachel—Annabeth. Annabeth—Rachel. Um, she's a friend, I guess." Percy stated.

"Hi," Rachel said. Then she turned to the boys. "You both are lucky at those Empousai, or whatever they are called, didn't cause more damage. I am not even sure what the mist showed to everyone else. Now, I get the gist of what you two are….maybe her as well, but you still owe me an explaination!"

Annabeth heard the name of the monster that was after then and sighed. "Great, seems that we need to go…now."

"I want to know more about half-bloods," Rachel insisted. "And monsters. And this stuff about the gods." She grabbed Percy's arm, whipped out a permanent marker, and wrote a phone number on Percy's hand. "You're going to call me and explain, okay? You owe me that. Now get going."

"But—"

"No let's go!" Annabeth demanded, sounding even more annoyed now after what she just saw.

"Fine…" Percy said as they started walking away.

"Remember, either you or blondie owe me an explanation!" Rachel called.

"Yeah yeah, seeya later Red." Naruto called out.

"It's Rachel!"

"And mine is Naruto!" said blond replied with a big smirk at being able to annoy her.

"So…" Annabeth started when they were further away. "How due to two know her and why did you tell her about our world!?"

"She can see through the Mist. She saw the monsters before I did." Percy said.

"So you told her the truth?"

"She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so—"

"You've met her _before_?"

"And he almost killed her too." Naruto said, putting his two cents in.

"By the gods Percy!" Annabeth raged before she calmed down. "She is kinda of cute."

"I—I never thought about it." Percy stammered.

"Liar." Naruto said under his breathe.

"Well crap, we better get out of here if empousai are after you two. There goes our day." Annabeth said while they walked down York Avenue.

Percy thought about that the monster cheerleader said before he noticed Naruto's smile. "What?"

"Oh, just thinking." Naruto stated. "You almost kill the girl and she gives you her number. Are you sure you don't have Aphrodite's blond in you?"

Percy stared at his ninja friend while Annabeth seemed to let out an annoyed growl. "Not funny."

XXXXX

**OK! The first chapter is done! Woot! Just incase you are still wonder what that song was called. It was Now I See the Light from the Tangled movie. It was either that or Moon on the Water from the Beck Anime. Review!**


	2. There is Always a Council

**NPU4: Battle of the Labyrinth**

**Chapter 2**

**Well, that was a decent amount of reactions to my continuation of this story and i am in such a good mood due tot he reaction of Neglect, that i am releasing this chapter early.  
**

**Enjoy**

The taxi ride back to camp was interesting, if not a little tense. It seemed that with Annabeth conflicting emotions about Percy and Luke, seeing another girl give Percy her number right in front of her was a little much. And naturally the blond demi-god of Athena was pissed at the demi-god of Poseidon. Go figure.

So naturally, she was talking to Percy as little as possible….at least until they got back to camp anyway.

"So…any word on Luke?" Percy asked.

"Nope." Naruto replied from his position between them so they didn't kill each other. Naruto did know that Percy was fishing for a conversation, but with Annabeth in a bad mood, that might not be a good idea.

Also, Percy knew that Luke was a touchy subject to Annabeth, but he didn't want to stay silent. It was so tense with her mad at him. Still, he wanted to know more about the guy since he did survive a fifty foot drop off a cliff. This also led Percy to think back to his conversation to Aphrodite. All this drama with Luke and Rachel, is thiswhat she meant? If so then Aphrodite has really annoying drama tastes.

"Mount Tram is still overrun with monsters," Annabeth spoke up. "I didn't dare go close, but I don't think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was."

That didn't make Percy feel much better. "What about Grover?"

"He's at camp," she said. "We'll see him today."

"Did he have any luck? I mean, with the search for Pan?" Percy asked.

"You'll see Percy." Naruto replied with a look that was worried and annoyed at the same time while Annabeth fingered her necklace, a sign of her own worry. Now that made Percy nervous.

As they headed through Brooklyn, Percy used Annabeth's phone to call his mom. Half-bloods try not to use cell phones if they could avoid it, because broadcasting their voices is like sending up a flare to the monsters: _Here I am!_ _Please eat me now! _But Percy figured this call was important. So he left a message on his home voice mail, trying to explain what had happened at Goode. He probably didn't do a very good job as he was in a hurry and he hated explaining things. Percy told his mom he was fine, she shouldn't worry, but he was going to stay at camp until things cooled down. Percy also asked her to tell Paul Blofis he was sorry for skipping out early.

Thankfully, with Rachel's quick thinking and Naruto being there, there was less damage to the school. He had a feeling that if it was just him and Rachel, then things would be a lot worse and he would be in more trouble.

They rode in silence after that. The city melted away until they were off the expressway and rolling through the countryside of northern Long Island, past orchards and wineries and fresh produce stands.

As the taxi exited on Route 25A, Percy wondered if he should call Rachel, as if she would have all the answers. They headed through the woods along the North Shore until a low ridge of hills appeared on their left. Annabeth told the driver to pull over on Farm Road 3.141, at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

The driver frowned. "There ain't nothing here, miss. You sure you want out?"

"Yes, please," Annabeth handed him a roll of mortal cash, and the driver decided not to argue.

The three young demi-god hiked up the hill where the young guardian dragon was dozing, coiled around the pine tree, but he lifted his coppery head as they approached and let Annabeth scratch under his chin. Steam hissed out his nostrils like from a teakettle, and he went cross-eyed with pleasure.

"Hey, Peleus," Annabeth said. "Keeping everything safe?"

"Heh, of course the big guy is. No one wants to mess with a badass dragon." Naruto commented with a smirk. Plus the dragon had grown since Percy had last seen him, so with that information, the dragon would only get bigger and no one would want to mess with a full grown dragon.

Soon, he eyes wandered to the Golden Fleece draped over one of the tree branches, further protecting the camp's magical borders. With the camp so protected by these things, it looked almost peaceful, but that was only a front. Things were subliminally tense as they neared a time of war.

The three kids walked down into the valley and found the summer session in full swing. Most of the campers had arrived last Friday, making Naruto smile at Percy's helpless look as he was already behind in the events of the camp. The satyrs were playing their pipes in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow with woodland magic. Campers were having flying horseback lessons, swooping over the woods on their pegasi. Smoke rose from the forges, and hammers rang as kids made their own weapons for Arts & Crafts. The Athena and Demeter teams were having a chariot race around the track, and over at the canoe lake some kids in a Greek trireme were fighting a large orange sea serpent. A typical day at camp.

"I need to talk to Clarisse," Annabeth said suddenly, making Percy look at her like she had grown a second head. After all, Annabeth and Clarisse weren't the best of friends.

"What for?" Percy asked. He didn't like the girl and she didn't like him. The only reason he tolerated her was because of Naruto.

"We've been working on something," Annabeth said. "I'll see you later."

"Working on what?"

Annabeth glanced toward the forest.

"I'll tell Chiron you're here," she said. "He'll want to talk to you before the hearing."

"What hearing?" Percy asked as she jogged down the path toward the archery field without looking back.

"Ah don't worry about it too much Percy." Naruto said, patting Percy on the shoulder. "She is just pissed that she saw you getting some digits from a pretty red head. I am sure she'll get over it."

"If you say so, but what hearing?" Percy asked once more.

"Eh….I'll let Chiron explain that one, but it is about Grover." Naruto said before he walked away. "Seeya later!"

"Yeah…seeya." Percy replied as he wandered off, wondering what everyone's deal was.

XXX

"You know, I think should have told Percy what was going on." Naruto said as he walked around the forest with Thalia in no apparent direction. They were close enough to where Grover's hearing would be, so they were in no rush. They were just enjoying each others company.

"It is possible, but I think Chiron did say he wanted to personally tell Percy as he took him to Grover's hearing." Thalia said.

"True." Naruto conceded before a smile crept on his face. "So, you think Percy has met Mrs. O' Leary yet?"

"If not, then he will soon. I beat that giant dog will freak him out." Thalia replied with a smile of her own. "Tear had no problem with her though and that is one small hellhound."

"Heh, yeah." Naruto replied as they leaned against a tree with Thalia up against him. While small for a hellhound, Tear had grown somewhat, but she was not going to be that big since she was the runt of the litter. Still, the giant Mrs. O' Leary didn't have a problem with the little dog and they got along great.

As Thalia leaned against her boyfriend, she felt that he was very tense. "Stop thinking about it. I am sure Grover will ok."

"It is not Grover that I am worried about, but those Cloven Elders. My experience with elders is not pleasant and they usually only do things for themselves. They aren't going to believe him because they were already against him. If I have to, I'll kick their asses so that they give Grover a fair trial."

"Amusing but I doubt Chiron will be happy about that." Thalia replied with a knowing smile. She loved her boyfriend for protecting his friends, but he couldn't fight all their battle for them.

"Considering he is surprisingly one of them, yeah no." Naruto replied before he just held the daughter of Zeus as he stared at the serenity of the forest around them. He didn't mind the city all that much now that he lived in this world, but he grew up in a nature based world, so this was great.

Thalia liked the peace the forest. It let her think on things and in addition to ramen, that is what her boyfriend smelled like. "So peaceful." She sighed with a smile.

"Yeah, that is something great about the forest." Naruto said before he pulled out a necklace. It was a chain necklace with a little white lightning bolt at the end. It was made of diamond and celestial bronze. "Here…I made this for you if you ever can't get to your spear and shield."

Thalia blinked before taking the item with a smile. "Thanks." She said with a small smirk. "First present my boyfriend gets me is a possible weapon, take that normal girls."

"Oh ha ha." Naruto said, rolling his eyes.

"I mean it. Thank you Naruto, I love it." Thalia said as she handed it to Naruto so that he could put it around her neck. "So…what kind of weapon is it?"

"Oh just something I had wiped up. I modeled it after a blade back home called the Rajin Blade. I asked Zeus nicely to add some of his power into it and he agreed….mostly so you have a better means of protecting yourself. Still doesn't seem to like me though."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Of course he doesn't, your dating me. Plus, you stood up to him AND you called his Master Bolt his Toy of Mass Destruction."

"Eh, semantics." Naruto replied, brushing it off. "Anyway, the handle is like the original, but it can be any weapon you desire. Still have given it a name, but I am sure you will think of something." Naruto paused for a moment and then said, "It is a work of art….well, if creating things that aid in killing other things is considered art anyway. Still, I had Beckendorf and Tyson help me out with it. Percy's brother is pretty good at that stuff, but it is still comical that Tyson is afraid of Grover."

Thalia laughed at that. "That _is_ funny." She said with a smile before rounding on Naruto. "So how should I thank you for this gift, hmmm?"

Naruto smiled warmly at her, making the girl blush. "A simple thank you will do."

Thalia laid her neck on his shoulder, at the crook of his neck. "That's another thing I like about you. Always giving to your friends and never really expecting much in return." She said before she looked back up at him with a strange smile. "But this time will be different."

"Oh? What do you have in mind?" Naruto asked, completely oblivious.

She leaned up to his ear and said, "We could…disturb the peace and quiet of these woods."

"Wait wha-mhp!" Naruto asked before she assaulted his lips with her own.

(**Put the Lime in the Coconut!)**

In her heated passion of the moment, she subconsciously released some of her lightning through him, sending his hair on head and making him and her a little more sensitive to things.

Thalia moaned into the kiss as Naruto brought his tongue into the action as she ran her hands through his hair. Naruto then put his hand on her hips and rubbed them up and down.

It became a lot more heated when they switched positions and Thalia was pressed up against the tree. She moaned even louder when Naruto started groping her developing breasts and she brought her legs around his waist.

She was also unknowingly releasing a little more lightning between them, making things little more heated as the electricity coursed through ever cell of their body, making them forget everything else by the heat of the moment.

However, what woke her up was a certain someone's third leg, poking at her through their clothes and the way he was grinding it against her was really turning her on. Still, she didn't know if she was ready for that just yet and had to stop this soon.

Reluctantly breaking away from the kiss they were sharing, she brought her mouth next to his ear and said, "I may not be ready for _that_ yet, but I would mind doing something else."

Regaining his senses as Thalia unwrapped herself from around his waist, he said, "What do you have in mind? It has to be quick or we'll be late for Grover's Hearing."

Thalia smirked. For being a descendent of Aphrodite, he wasn't that well versed in sex, but managed to charm 4 girls to his side. Oh well, that made things interesting as she kissed him and then lowered herself to her knees so that she was eye level with his waist.

"W-what are you doing?!" Naruto asked with big eyes.

"Relax." Thalia said kindly as she unzipped him and brought her prize out. Her own eyes widened when she saw big it was. She felt it before but sees is better than feeling in some instances.

When she gripped it, she sent another shock through his system, if possible, making it a little bigger. It hurt Naruto at first, but he started to like it, especially after she started to lick the top before taking some of it in her mouth.

"W-wow." Naruto breathed as he leaned back against the tree in a slight daze. "Amazing!"

Thalia smirked at the effect she was having on him. Take it out of her mouth, she licked along the shaft while saying, "Just think what it would be like what I am ready for the more…sensual acts of loving making." She then took it back in her mouth, taking in a little than last time as she began to bob her head up and down, the pleasurable sensations heightening with every stroke.

Since it was his first time in this kind of situation, he didn't last very long. Soon, he felt he was going explode from the sensations, so he grunted and held on her hair, making the girl smirk as she released it from her mouth so she would choke and lightly bit at the end of it, making Naruto shoot his cum in her mouth.

Thalia licked the excess cum of her lips and swallowed it all, after making sure Naruto had a good look that is.

**(**_**The lime juice has run out!**_**)**

Thalia smirked at his dazed look and asked, "So how was it?"

"Awesome." Naruto said with a big smile on his face.

"Good," Thalia replied with her hands on her hips before she leaned in for another kiss. "Later, we can do, _other _things….especially with the other girls." She laughed at Naruto's big eyed look. "But first, we need to get to Grover."

"Oh right!" Naruto said, panicking that that might be late, so he took her hand and they ran to Grover's hearing, all the while Thalia was laughing.

XXX

They made it just in time to see that Grover was in the middle of explaining himself to the Elders and Chiron was not ever there yet.

"What took you two so long?" Clarisse asked with an annoyed look on her face as Annabeth was soothing a girl that they knew to be Grover's girlfriend. The girl was small, almost petite, with wispy hair the color of amber and a pretty, elfish face. She wore a green chiton and laced sandals, and she was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief every now and then, knowing that the elders didn't reallt care about what Grover had to say as they had already made up their minds. Her name was Juniper.

They knew this girl to be a tree nymph, also known as a Dryad.

"Eh…what you believe me if I told you that we got lost on the road of life?" Naruto asked in a hashed tone.

"No, that excuse is bullshit." Clarisse hissed, knowing where he got that line from.

"Right," Naruto replied. "We just lost track of time enjoying the beauty of the forest."

Clarisse accepted that line due to the fact that Naruto loved the forest. He was a big nature fanatic after all.

Naruto turned to the council of Cloven Elders to see that they were barely even listening! They were fat satyrs that wore Hawaiian and Polo shirts and they looked they were a mix of bored out of their mind and highly annoyed at having to speak with Grover. It reminded him of the councilors of Konoha, except without the hate in their eyes. But they also had high and mighty looks on their faces as they sat on their topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes.

Soon, when Grover was nearing the end of his story, Chiron arrived on the scene with Percy on his back. The demi-god of Poseidon did look a little rattled, which meant they he had met Mrs. O' Leary and the new camp counselor.

Clarisse's brown hair was tied back with a camouflage bandanna and to Percy, she looked a little buffer. She looked at Percy and muttered, "Punk." as a greeting. Percy just looked relieved that she wasn't trying to kill him like usual

"It's going terribly," Juniper sniffed, catching Percy's attention.

"No, no," Annabeth patted her shoulders. "He'll be fine, Juniper." Annabeth looked at Percy and mouthed the words _Grover's girlfriend_. Now that was news to him and that made his eyebrows rise a bit, wondering when Grover even got a girlfriend.

"Master Underwood!" the council member on the right shouted, cutting off whatever Grover was trying to say. "Do you seriously expect us to believe this?"

"B-but Silenus," Grover stammered. "It's the truth!"

The Council guy, Silenus, turned to his colleagues and muttered something. Chiron cantered up to the front and stood next to them, making Percy remember that Chiron was an honorary member of that council.

Silenus tugged his yellow polo shirt over his belly and adjusted himself on his rosebush throne. "Master Underwood, for six months—_six months_— we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you heard the wild god Pan speak."

"But I did!"

"Impudence!" said the elder on the left.

"Now, Maron," Chiron said. "Patience."

"Patience, indeed!" Maron said. "I've had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak to…to _him_."

Juniper looked like she wanted to charge the old satyr and beat him up. Naruto looked the same. It might not have been like back in Konoha, but these elders had already given up in their search for Pan. To them it was just something to do and when someone like Grover showed evidence that their god was alive, they just brushed it since they didn't want to actually lose their new found power. However, Annabeth, Thalia, and Clarisse held them back, making Percy widen his eyes seeing that Clarisse was in that line up.

"Wrong fight, girlie, Naruto," Clarisse muttered. "Wait."

"For six months," Silenus continued, "we have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher's license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?"

"I just need more time," Grover pleaded.

"Nothing!" the elder in the middle chimed in. "You have found nothing."

"But, Leneus—"

Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs. The satyrs didn't look happy. They muttered and argued among themselves, but Chiron said something else, and Silenus sighed. He nodded reluctantly.

"Master Underwood," Silenus announced, "we will give you one more chance."

Grover brightened. "Thank you!"

"One more week."

"What? But sir! That's impossible!"

"One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps. Or tap dancing."

"But sir, I—I can't lose my searcher's license. My whole life—"

"This meeting of the council is adjourned," Silenus said. "And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!"

The old satyr clapped his hands, and a bunch of nymphs melted out of the trees with platters of vegetables, fruits, tin cans, and other goat delicacies. The circle of satyrs broke and charged the food. Grover walked dejectedly toward us. His faded blue T-shirt had a picture of a satyr on it. It read GOT HOOVES?

"Hi, Percy," he said, so depressed he didn't even offer to shake Percy's hand. "That went well, huh?"

"Those old goats!" Juniper said. "Oh, Grover, they don't know how hard you've tried!"

"Feh, they already gave up, so they just don't care and to think someone young like Grover actually found something, it hurts their pride." Naruto grumbled.

"There is another option," Clarisse said darkly, making Thalia smirk.

"No. No." Juniper shook her head. "Grover, I won't let you."

His face was ashen. "I—I'll have to think about it. But we don't even know where to look."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked.

In the distance, a conch horn sounded.

Annabeth pursed her lips. "Come on, Naruto and I fill you in later, Percy. We'd better get back to our cabins. Inspection is starting."

"Oh crap! Those clones better not have been screwing around!' Naruto yelled in a panic as he ran to his cabin, making the others stare at his retreating form before laughing.

XXX

Naruto arrived at his cabin in record time. On his porch, were a couple of his shadow clones that he dismissed, seeing that they had that part cleaned enough. Walking into the place, he saw a mess of clones and for that, he couldn't see how they were doing, so he made the mistake of dispelling them all at once.

The mental feedback knocked him on his ass in a daze. Thankfully it didn't last long. Looking around, he saw what his clones have confirmed; they succeeded in making the cabin spotless. Now, he may not have slept here that much, mostly sleeping in the Aphrodite cabin, but it was still his cabin to deal with and he would not lose!

He had learned a lot while bunking with Silena. One, she was a neat freak, which as was fine and all, but there were limits to that and two was that she hated barren walls. So, on his walls were pictures of him and his friends, posters of Disney characters that he liked, and some posters of games he sometimes played. There were even some of his world's weapons he propped up on the wall after making them with the help of Beckendorf.

All in all, the inside of the spooky Hades Cabin was not what you would think it would be. After all, looks can be _very_ deceiving.

"Knock Knock!" A sing song voice rang throughout the cabin, signifying that Silena had arrived.

"Hey Silena…again." Naruto replied with a goofy smile at seeing her earlier that day.

"Hey Naruto, I see that you heeded my warning about a dirty cabin. I must say that everything in here is defiantly…you." She said with a slight giggle at see a genie poster. "I like it. I like it a lot."

"Why thank you. I aim to please." Naruto replied with an exaggerated bow.

"Oh I know you do." Silena with a sultry look as she sauntered up to him and the whispered in his ear. "If I give you first place, would the same apply for the shower we would share?"

That sent a shiver of excitement down Naruto's spine. He was just getting into all this…sex stuff and Thalia's blowjob was amazing, but what could one do in a shower? "Oh you know it." Naruto replied, so he wouldn't have to think on it to much.

Silena's smile grew at that before she planted a kiss on his lips and then left with a sway on her hips. "Good, see you later lover boy.

"Yeah…seeya…." Naruto said a bit distracted as he watched her go. When she was gone, he snapped out of it. "Wow, these girls are getting to me. But can't think on that, Tyson is bring Percy down to the arena for his surprise. Gotta get there."

XXX

When Naruto got to the arena, he saw the new camp councilor petting an extremely happy Tear. Of course the little hellhound would be happy to get attention, she was like that after all and it is why her and Naruto got along so well. The little god from hell was also happy to see another of her kind that didn't have a problem with her.

Still, it was ironic that said dog was a giant among hellhounds.

"Hey, Quintus, how's things?"

"Hectic, but things are starting to go smoothly now that I know what to do here. I thank you for helping me." Quintus replied with a small smile. Quintus was like them, a demi-god, but he had managed to live long enough to become an adult, which shocked many thinking that they would die at a young age. Quintus proved that living to adulthood was possible.

Although, the man was very mysterious and others didn't fully trust him for that since he tended to keep to himself. Naruto, didn't really care about it all that much. Sure the mystery bother him, especially when it bothered Chiron to a point, but Naruto could live with it since he was a ninja and keeping secrets was their thing…even if he didn't always follow that rule.

"I was surprised that you had a hell hound too, but considering who's kid you are, I shouldn't be." Quintus stated as Tear ran up to Naruto

"Hey girl, how ya been? Not giving Mrs. O' Leary much trouble?" Naruto asked as he pet the little dog and then placed her on his shoulder where she liked to be. Tear would never really grow much and that was ok with him. After all, big things come in small packages.

"So what are you doing here, Naruto?" Quintus asked.

"Wait for Percy and Tyson. We had another blade forged for him incase he ever needed it when Riptide ever decided it was going to crap out on him again like back at Mount Tram."

"I see." Quintus stated. He had heard about that little venture to the old Titan stronghold and he was not all that surprised. What did surprise him was Naruto defying the prophecy and saving a Hunter. Zoe Nightshade if he remembered correctly. "That was a good idea then. What did you model it after?"

Naruto took out a silver clicking pen and said, "After one of my first enemies in the Elemental Countries, the man was my first true enemy, but he taught me a lot that day."

Quintus just nodded at that. He had heard about the Elemental Countries in passing from some of the Olympian Gods and Goddesses that went there. People like him could go there because of one thing. He was bound to this world for his mistakes in the past.

Plus, if the Olympians wanted to go to that world, they would be gone for three years this world's time and they would have to follow the rules set by the Gods of that other world. Which meant they would have to reborn as a human, but they would keep their powers in the form of a bloodline, or just start anew. But demi-gods were still born there, you can't get rid of godhood that easily.

He had heard of other types of deities going there, like Nyx and Aphrodite. It was a mystery as to why Nyx would even bother to do there, but for Aphrodite, it was pretty simple. She had a thing for strong men playing the part of a warrior.

For Hades, it was to see a new take on life. People knew he had gotten tired of the rumors surrounding him and wanted another chance. It worked out very well for him in the end.

There were even rumors that Hera herself wanted to try it, but her oath to stay with her husband, no matter how unfaith he was, made her stay.

It was the same for the gods of the other world. But the Eclipse was the bridge for free travel between worlds and it was coming soon. Quintus felt that something big was going to happen that day and Naruto would be at the center of it all.

"Naruto! We are here!" Tyson's voice rang out, catching both Naruto and Quintus' attention.

"Thank you, Tyson." Naruto replied with a smile before turned to Percy.

The young demi-god of Poseidon was very confused. After doing a few things with his brother, Tyson suddenly remembered that Naruto wanted to bring him to the arena and that was all he got out of the bigger boy.

'Ok, since Tyson is not telling me anything, what do you need Naruto." Percy asked, a little confused and annoyed.

Naruto smiled as he tossed the silver pen to Percy. When Percy caught it, the boy just rose an eyebrow. "This is a pen."

"So is Riptide." Naruto replied. "Click it and see your new blade."

That made Percy's eyebrows shoot past his hairline. Naruto had mentioned last time that he was going to make him a new blade, but he didn't think it was going to be that quick. So he clicked the pen, making it morph into a miniature version of the famous Executioner's Blade that a man named Zabuza once held.

"I call it Wave's Requiem." Naruto said with a small smile. "As you can see I modeled it after Zabuza's blade. However, the powers it possesses are very helpful to you."

"Wow Naruto, this is beautiful….and deadly. Thank you man!" Percy shouted with stars in his eyes at getting a new and awesome blade. Tyson seemed to have gotten bored and was playing with Mrs. O' Leary, who were playing Get the Greek. Quintus was staring at the blade with interest.

"Yeah, now the powers they blade possesses are that they let you control water to a better extent, as if aiding your already impressive control over water. If you use that power, it can create a mist to hide yourself in, confusing your ememy, but you will be able to see through it perfectly. Thank you dad for that, he blessed the blade. Oh and one more power is that if you want to dish out heavy hits, it can turn into the original's size, but you might to bulk up for that….or use it smartly."

"Now that is awesome, thank you again man!" Percy said truthfully. He knew why Naruto had made this blade. Riptide was cursed. If there was ever a situation that was in dire need of that blade, it would fail him. Wave's Requiem had no such curse on it.

"Come, let's practice. Quintus can give us some tips when we need it." Naruto suggested, making Percy and Quintus nod in agreement.

That was when Percy saw something on Quintus that made his ADHD act up and he blurted out, "Hey, what is that mark?"

Quintus paled a little as he put his hand over it. It looked like a tattoo at first, but Naruto saw that it was a burn mark…a brand of sorts. "A reminder…" He said simply. "Now get on with your practice."

XXX

That night, Naruto decided to sleep in his own cabin. He hadn't been able to sleep that well since Nico left. He was worried about his little brother after all. That thought led him to think about his sister and he wondered how she was doing in the underworld.

He didn't even notice the shimmer in the air next to him until it was too late.

"NARUTO!"

"WHA!" Naruto said as he fell off his bed on and on his floor. Getting back up, he saw his sister heads floating in midair with a dark background. "So that is what the receiving end is like." Naruto muttered before he smiled at his sister. "Hey Bianca, I was just thinking about you."

Bianca smiled back at her older brother. Technically she was older, but when she thought about it, it just made her head hurt, so she called him the older one. I felt right that way. "Hey big bro."

"To what due I assume this call is about?" Naruto asked.

"I wanted to see how my brother was, you have called me in a week!" Bianca said. "But I have something to tell you. There is a ritual that we of the Children of Hade can do to summon a spirit of the dead to speak with them, but for us, we can use it to speak to each other over long distances….like right now if I wasn't using an Iris Message. Nico tried using it and failed. He is trying to talk to my spirit. However, even if he reaches me, I doubt he will listen to me."

"I see. Why Are you tell me this?"

"I am getting the feeling something big is about to happen and there will be another quest and you will run into each other. I think then you will need to get him back on our side. Plus, I am not sure he is alone." Bianca replied with a worried tone.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I'll get him back Bianca, I promise."

Bianca smiled at that. Whenever Naruto promised something, he always did it. "Thank you big brother….and get some sleep for me."

"Right…" Naruto said as the Iris Message disappear. He was tired, but he was worried too and then often led to nightmares. But for his sister, he would try.

XXX

For half-bloods, dreams are hardly ever just dreams. They get messages. They glimpse things that are happening to their friends or enemies. Sometimes they even glimpse the past or the future. And at camp, the dreams were always more frequent and vivid.

Tonight, Moprheus the Dream God decided to present a dream of the present time about his little brother.

As the dream haze faded away, Naruto saw the dark shore of a river. Wisps of fog drifting across black water. The beach was strewn with jagged volcanic rock. A boy squatted at the riverbank, tending a campfire. The flames burned an unnatural blue color. Then Naruto saw the boy's face. It was Nico di Angelo. He was throwing pieces of paper into the fire—Mythomagic trading cards, part of the game he'd been obsessed with last winter.

Nico was only ten, or maybe eleven by now, but he looked older. His hair had grown longer. It was shaggy and almost touching his shoulders. His eyes were dark. His olive skin had turned paler. He wore ripped black jeans and a battered aviator's jacket that was several sizes too big, unzipped over a black shirt. His face was grimy, his eyes a little wild. He looked like a kid who'd been living on the streets.

Naruto want to reach out to the boy, but knowing this was a dream and window to only look through, Naruto looked on sadly at the sad state his brother was in.

Nico tossed another trading card into the blue flames. "Useless," he muttered. "I can't believe I ever liked this stuff."

"A childish game, master," another voice agreed. It seemed to come from near the fire, but Naruto couldn't see who was talking.

Nico stared across the river. On the far shore was a black beach shrouded in haze. Naruto recognized it: the Underworld. Nico was camping at the edge of the river Styx. That lead Naruto think of where their sister was or if she even knew the boy was in the Underworld.

"I've failed," he muttered. "There's no way to get her back."

The other voice kept silent.

Nico turned toward it doubtfully. "Is there? Speak."

Something shimmered. Naruto thought it was just firelight. Then he realized it was the form of a man—a wisp of blue smoke, a shadow. If you looked at him head-on, he wasn't there. But if you looked out of the corner of your eye, you could make out his shape. A ghost.

"It has never been done," the ghost said. "But there may be a way."

"Tell me," Nico commanded. His eyes shined with a fierce light.

"An exchange," the ghost said. "A soul for a soul."

"I've offered!"

"Not yours," the ghost said. "You cannot offer your father a soul he will eventually collect anyway. Nor will he be anxious for the death of his son. I mean a soul that should have died already. Someone who has cheated death."

Nico's face darkened. "Not that again. You're talking about murder."

"I'm talking about justice," the ghost said. "Vengeance."

"Those are not the same thing."

The ghost laughed dryly. "You will learn differently as you get older."

Nico stared at the flames. "Why can't I at least summon her? I want to talk to her. She would…she would help me."

"_I _will help you," the ghost promised. "Have I not saved you many times? Did I not lead you through the maze and teach you to use your powers? Do you want revenge for your sister or not?"

Naruto didn't like the ghost's tone of voice. He reminded him of Mizuki. That man and lead him to steal the Forbidden Scroll, which lead half the village after his ass. However, all Mizuki wanted was a chance to escape with the scroll so he could sell it to Orochimaru. Plus, there was bonus of killing him so that even if he left, Mizuki would be seen as a hero. This ghost was manipulating Nico and Naruto didn't like it. Not one bit!

Nico turned from the fire so the ghost couldn't see him, but Naruto could. A tear traced its way down his face. "Very well. You have a plan?"

"Oh, yes," the ghost said, sounding quite pleased. "We have many dark roads to travel. We must start—"

However, that was all Naruto was able to see before he woke up. Naruto's blue eyes pierced through the darkness in anger. "Whoever this ghost is…I will make sure they pay for manipulating my little brother!"

XXXX

**And that is the end of that chapter. Now excuse me while i go and finish the next chapter of this and Grim Reaper. But i do have a question, what should Thalia's weapon be called?  
**

**Review!**


	3. What Pissed Off the Scorpions

**NPU4: Battle of the Labyrinth**

**Chapter 3**

**Here you all go, another chapter!**

**XXXX**

Naruto have trouble sleeping that night, too worried for his brother after what he was told by his sister and what he saw in the dream. Still, whoever that person was, he was make them suffer in Hades.

So it was no surprise that Naruto was awake when he heard the ruckus in camp early that morning. Deciding he would not get any more sleep, Naruto got up to see what the problem was. Walking out into the cold morning air, Naruto saw campers who many used bow and arrow, Chiron, and Quintus all rush to the borders of the camp.

"Lee!" Naruto shouted as he caught up to the leader of the Apollo cabin.

"Naruto." Lee greeted in a rushed fashion. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same, but the heck is going on?" Naruto asked.

"What usually goes on around here lately." Lee stated. "Trouble at the camp borders."

Naruto grumbled as he followed the son of Apollo to the site of the disturbance. When they got there they saw a fairly large creature that Naruto knew to be an Aethiopian drakon. At lot of the campers where freaking out about it and other just gulped, hoping this creature would not be able to break their magical borders.

I guess you would freak out too if you saw a thirty feet long serpent with rows of sharp teeth, bright green terrifying eyes stare at you like you were a meal if it could break through the borders.

"Archers! Open fire! Send that thing away from us!" Lee ordered out loud. Lee must have been a pretty good archer to able to command them all like that because once he ordered them to do it, all the archers as one shot a salvo of arrows at it, some hit their mark and lodging themselves in its armor while others missed horribly. Even Zoe followed the order.

However, it had its intended result. It wounded the creature and it roared out in rage. Most figured that would happen, but other hoped that the fire of arrows would scare in the creature away for a time.

That was not the case. It just kept glaring at them, looking for a way in. That was until it had Naruto in its sights and roared fairly loudly and charged the borders, only for them to repel it like usual.

Naruto nodded to himself and said, "Let me handle this, I have a new untested jutsu I want to try out. It may not be finished yet, but I have a feeling the first part will do enough to drive this thing away."

"Are you sure?" Chiron asked as he came up to them.

"Yeah, now is the best time." Naruto said as he took out his fox blade known as Fear and threw it into the air before doing hand signs. "You guys might want to spread out a bit." Naruto told the campers who were watching the floating blade, along with the beast.

They did as they were told and just into time too. "**Hellfire Style: Fear's Roar!"** Naruto shouted as the blade glowed darkly before it burst into a torrent of black flames and formed into a giant nine tailed fox with flaming black fur.

All the camper along with Chiron and Quintus all stare in shock that a magical weapon like so many others and yet unique in its own way was able to be used in a jutsu like that. And it was a good thing that they did spread out because the flaming creature took a fair amount of space.

The two creatures stared at one another because the recreated Kyuubi no Kitsune let out a massive roar that created a fair amount of wind. The roar was just enough the scare the creature away for the time being and when it was done, the giant flaming creature dissipated until it was back sword form and it hit the ground next to a panting Naruto.

"Naruto! Are you ok?" Zoe asked as she help him to his feet.

"Yeah, just gotta work on the chakra output on that one…..ugh." Naruto groan. "Now I really need food." That statement made a lot of people sweatdrop.

"My word, what did you plan to do with such a technique?!" Chiron asked, Quintus nodding to the question, wondering about it himself.

"An ultimate defense and attack...a sort of last resort in case we ever _do_ go to war." Naruto replied.

"Ok, I feel a lot safer with now if we go to war with Luke." Lee said with a big smile.

"Thanks….now come on, let's go get something to eat, I am starving!"

XXX

"It's still out there," Lee warned the rest of the camp, including a now awake Percy Jackson, during announcements. "Twentyarrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. It's eyes—" he shuddered. "I am just glad Naruto used that technique of his to scare it away for the time being."

"You and Naruto did well, Lee," Chiron patted him on the shoulder. "Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has happened before."

"Aye," Quintus said from the head table. "And it will happen again. More and more frequently."

The campers murmured among themselves.

Everyone knew the rumors: Luke and his army of monsters were planning an invasion of the camp. Most of the kids expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. It didn't help that their attendance was down. They only had about eighty campers. Three years ago, when the duo started, there had been more than a hundred. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had just disappeared.

"This is a good reason for new war games, "Quintus continued, a glint in his eyes. "We'll see how you all do with that tonight."

"Yes…" Chiron said. "Well, enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat." He raised his goblet. "To the gods."

They all raised their glasses and repeated the blessing.

Tyson and Percy took their plates to the bronze brazier and scraped a portion of their food into the flames. Percy hoped the gods liked raisin toast and Fruit Loops.

"Poseidon," Percy said. Then he whispered, "Help me and Naruto with Nico, and Luke, and Grover's problem…"

The boy stood there a for a small time, thinking on all his other troubles that he could speak about, but in the end, he decided to keep quiet and left.

Naruto came up next and add in some French Toast. One of the best foods this world had. Ironically, both Hades and Aphrodite liked the food as well to an extent. "Hey dad….mom." He started, referring to both the of the previously mentioned Olympians. He remembered not to call Aphrodite grandma, so he was off to a great start.

"I know that you guy are extremely busy with the upcoming war and all, but I need it some guidance on how to save Nico from himself…and that ghost, whoever it may be. Also, please stay safe."

With his piece said, Naruto left to go to the Aphrodite table where he sat next to Silena. "Hey, Naruto. You going to be ok? You look pretty exhausted from using that technique from earlier." Silena asked, worry about her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I should have tested it out more before using it. Ugh, it just took so much chakra."

"Oh, poor baby!" Silena replied with a worrying smile as she hugged him.

Zoe walked up next to them and said, "Naruto, we need to talk to Percy and Grover with Annabeth."

"Is it about the Labyrinth?" Naruto asked.

"I would assume so." She replied and shivered a bit. No one really enjoyed that place and after Clarisse came back with that Chris kid, she really didn't want to go.

"Alright, I'll meet you there. I want to see how Clarisse is holding up." Naruto replied, making the girl nod.

"I…I'll meet you there too." Silena replied and seeing their confused looks, she said, "I think I need to get more involved."

"Fair enough." Zoe said before making her way to Percy's table with Silena.

Naruto got up and walked over to the Ares Table. "Hey, how are you holding up."

Clarisse smiled as she looked at him. "A lot better now, but I do still get nightmares of the place." Here gaze then went to the gathering at Percy's table and sighed. "I know that you are planning to with them to the Labyrinth and I wish you wouldn't, but i know you will just to keep them safe."

"Of course I would. "Naruto replied with a soft smile. "They are my friends after all."

Clarisse smirked. "Yeah, I know, even with that punk." She sobered up and said, "Don't underestimate that place…it is hell, especially for us battle minded people." At that, all the children of Ares shivered from the stories she had told them about that horror of a place.

"I won't and if I go, I promise I will come back." Naruto stated.

"You'd better." Clarisse declared as she then got up and kissed him. When the kiss reluctantly ended, Naruto walked over to the Poseidon Table, where all the stares were directed. People were inwardly smirking at Percy and Annabeth, wondering when those two were going to be together.

However, while they were used to Naruto sitting at the Aphrodite Table due to his blood. So they were a little iffy when not just Annabeth decided to sit with Percy and Grover. Now in addition to Annabeth, three more people sat with them. That included Naruto, Zoe, and Silena.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, nodding to Naruto as he sat down with them. "Last summer he just appeared in Phoenix, Arizona, near Clarisse's mom's house."

Yeah, Naruto quickly realized they were not just talking about the Labyrinth, but Chris as well.

"What do you mean he just appeared?" Percy asked.

"He was wandering around the desert, in a hundred and twenty degrees, in full Greek armor, babbling about string."

"String?"

"He'd been driven completely insane. Clarisse brought him back to her mom's house so the mortals wouldn't institutionalize him. She tried to nurse him back to health. Chiron came out and interviewed him, but it wasn't much good. The only thing they got out of him: Luke's men have been exploring the Labyrinth."

"Thankfully Mr. D had still be around." Naruto replied. "He cured Chris of his insanity, but it had the affect of messing with his memories a bit."

"Okay," Percy asked, shivering a bit at the thought of his memories being messed with. "Why were they exploring the Labyrinth?"

"We weren't sure," Annabeth said. "That's why Clarisse went on a scouting expedition. Chiron kept things hushed up because he didn't want anyone panicking. He got me involved because…well, the Labyrinth has always been one of my favorite subjects. The architecture involved—" Her expression turned a little dreamy. "The builder, Daedalus, was a genius. But the point is, the Labyrinth has entrances everywhere. If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around with incredible speed."

"Except it's a maze, right?" Percy asked.

"Full of horrible traps," Grover agreed. "Dead ends. Illusions. Psychotic goat-killing monsters."

"But not if you had Ariadne's string," Naruto explained, getting a nod from Annabeth. "In the old days, Ariadne's string guided Theseus out of the maze. It was a navigation instrument of some kind, invented by Daedalus. And Chris Rodriguez _was_ mumbling about string."

"So Luke is trying to find Ariadne's string," Percy said. "Why? What's he

planning?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know. I thought maybe he wanted to invade camp through the maze, but that doesn't make any sense. The closest entrances Clarisse found were in Manhattan, which wouldn't help Luke get past our borders. Clarisse explored a little way into the tunnels, but…it was very dangerous. She had some close calls. I researched everything I could find about Daedalus. I'm afraid it didn't help much. I don't understand exactly what Luke's planning, but I do know this: the Labyrinth might be the key to Grover's problem."

Percy blinked. "You think Pan is underground?"

"You know, that _would_ make sense." Naruto replied.

Grover shuddered. "Satyrs hate going underground. No searcher would try going in _that _place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops!"

"But," Annabeth said, "the Labyrinth can lead you almost anywhere. It reads your thoughts. It was designed to fool you, trick you and kill you; but if you can make the Labyrinth work _for _you—"

"It could lead you to the wild god," Percy deduced.

"I can't do it." Grover hugged his stomach. "Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up my silverware."

"Grover, it may be your last chance," Annabeth said. "The council is serious. _One _week or you learn to tap dance!"

"Think about it Grover." Naruto demanded. "If you give up on this lead like so many other Satyrs. Would you doom your people to search endlessly in other place, or will you be a hero to your own people by taking this risk with us, if we go, to find the Wild God?"

Over at the head table, Quintus cleared his throat. That was his way of telling them they need to go back to their own table just in case.

"Think about it Grover." Naruto replied as he and Silena got up to leave and head back to their table, ignoring the stares.

"We'll talk later," Annabeth squeezed Percy's arm a little too hard. "Convince him some more, will you?" She returned to the Athena table, ignoring all the people who were staring at her as well.

"So, do you think Grover will do it?" Silena asked Zoe as she walked next to them. Zoe case in the table situation was different. It was so rare for the Hunters to come to camp that their table was pretty old…and lonely. So she asked Naruto if it was alright to join him the Aphrodite Table and the blond naturally didn't have a problem with it. Still, they prayed to the Goddess of Love to not hurt Zoe from sitting there and it seems that she was OK with it.

"I am unsure, but I feel that if he used his persistence that he used to make me and the other Hunters happy when they were here, then he could succeed." Zoe replied.

"That is true, he just needs the right kick in the pants." Naruto replied with a smirk, making the girls giggle.

XXX

Naruto knew that they were going to be doing something tonight. That was the vibe he was getting from Quintus anyway, so he felt that he needed to do this sooner than later.

Walking to the arena, Naruto saw that Clarisse was helping Quintus move some heavy looking boxes.

"Hey Quintus, can I borrow Clarisse for a few minutes." The blond asked.

Quintus raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Sure, just don't keep her for too long."

"What do ya need, Naruto." Clarisse asked as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"I need to give you this weapon I have been making. The Spear of Destiny." Naruto replied as he gave it to her in the form of a necklace.

"Now that is awesome." Clarisse replied with a smirk. "You modeled it after the game version of it?"

"You know it." Naruto replied happily.

"You are such a great boyfriend." She replied before she pulled him in a for a tongue filled kiss.

When they broke apart, Naruto saw Quintus looking at them in amusement. "Heh, I better let you get back to work."

"I guess so." Clarisse replied before she gave him another small kiss and left to do the work Quintus needed down.

XXX

That night after dinner, Quintus had the campers suit up in combat armor like they were getting ready for capture the flag, but the mood among the campers was a lot more serious. Sometime during the day the crates in the arena had disappeared, and Percy had a feeling whatever was in them had been emptied into the woods. He looked to Naruto to see the boy give him a nod.

"Right," Quintus said, standing on the head dining table. "Gather 'round." He was dressed in black leather and bronze. In the torchlight, his gray hair made him look like a ghost. Mrs. O'Leary bounded happily around him, foraging for dinner scraps with the little Tear.

"You will be in teams of two," Quintus announced. When everybody started talking and trying to grab their friends, he yelled: "Which have already been chosen!"

"AWWWWW!" everybody complained.

"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course…you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."

The crowd started murmuring excitedly. The task sounded pretty straightforward. Hey, they'd all slain monsters before. That's what they trained for.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."

"_Aroooof!" _Mrs. O'Leary buried her face in a plate of pizza. Tear took a niff and walked off in search of something else, obviously not a fan of Pizza.

Quintus produced a big scroll and started reading off names. Beckendorf would be with Silena Beauregard, which Beckendorf looked pretty happy about since he knew she was not like the other children of Aphrodite. Which basically meant that he was NOT useless. He looked over to Naruto and nodded to the boy, silently telling him that he would keep her safe. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, would be together. No surprise. They did everything together. Clarisse was with Lee Fletcher from the Apollo cabin—melee and ranged combat combined, they would be a tough combo to beat. Quintus kept rattling off the names until he said, "Percy Jackson with Annabeth Chase."

"Nice!" Percy replied, grinning at Annebeth.

"Your armor is crooked" was her only comment, and she redid his straps for him.

"Grover Underwood," Quintus said, "with Tyson."

Grover just about jumped out of his goat fur. "What? B-but—"

"No, no," Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake. Goat boy—"

"No complaining!" Quintus ordered. "Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!" He then went back to his list to call out the last two names. "Naruto and Zoe are a team." That was another powerhouse team. A ninja and a Hunter. Now that made a lot of the campers nervous.

"We shall breeze through this easily." Zoe declared.

"Got that right!" Naruto cheered.

XXX

It had been half an hour and the team of Naruto and Zoe had found squat! So they leisurely walked through the forest at a nice pace but while they were being lazy, they were also on guard in case anything happened.

They had heard the Stroll brothers pass by multiple times, tripping over themselves and cursing up a storm. It was pretty ironic that those two were children of Hermes when they couldn't be stealthy. Another reason they never won their prank war with him.

Soon, the duo made their way to where Nico and done his earth fissure act and then left in anger. "Is this the spot where you last saw him?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, but the odd thing was, I saw an Iris Message last night that showed he was fine, but he was being led by a ghost and trying to revive the dead it would seem."

"That is not good." Zoe replied, having seen that situation before.

"No, it is not and that is why I need to get into the Labyrinth to search for him." Naruto replied, making Zoe shiver.

"While I agree with you, you still need to get a quest for that. Hopefully something will happen that will push Chiron into acting." Zoe said.

"Yeah…" Naruto replied before they went back to back when they heard a scuttling noise like a giant bug monster was near them. They nodded to each other and figured it was a large Scorpion.

They weren't far off because in the next moment, one came bursting onto the scene in a rather comical sight. The Stroll Brothers were fighting it and they were both latched onto its tail as it thrashed about.

They didn't get a chance to comment on this as four more scorpions rushed onto the scene. One of them was locked in combat with Clarisse as she used her new spear against it while arrows rain down from the nearby trees.

The other three locked on Naruto and Zoe and rushed them with their leader striking out first.

Acting quickly, Naruto created one of his true shadow clones to help Zoe into the trees to give her a better vantage point with which to shoot her enemies down. With that quickly done, Naruto bent backwards as a tail tried to impale him. Thankfully, it just struck his clone, distracting it for just a few moments.

It was all Naruto needed as he swung both is blade upwards in a scissor cut and slashed off the dangerous part the scorpion. It squealed in agony, as it back up, catching everyone's attention. The Stroll Brothers were roughly thrown over to Naruto's area and almost landed on the Son of Hades.

The other scorpion that was fighting Clarisse somehow corralled her to where the other were as well, leaving them to fight off five large scorpion monsters. The other camper must have been fight on one of their own among the other monsters in the forest.

"Oh this is not good." Travis said as he readied himself to fight these creatures with his campmates.

"Got any plans Naruto?" Clarisse asked.

"Why are you asking me?" Naruto asked.

"Because you are the prank master here. Surely you could think up a plan to kill these things." Conner replied.

"Fair enough….and don't call me surely." Naruto replied, using the airplane joke to calm them down a bit. Looking around, he saw Beckendorf and Silena ready to help them if need be. With the smithy's hammer and Silena daggers, this could work.

"Ok, Strolls, working on taking down the one I injured as its tail won't be of much use. Lee and Zoe from the trees will corral one of them over to Beckendorf and Silena for them to finish off." Naruto ordered, getting nods from them. That just left him and Clarisse to fight off the last three scorpions. "Clarisse, let's show the last three monsters why you don't mess with a Ninja of Death and a Daughter of Ares."

"Right!" they all cheered before going off to do their parts in the grand plan.

Clarisse and Naruto rushed the first one to charge at them and it stabbed its tail at them. Clarisse ducked under the strike and it went on to stab Naruto, who turned out to be a clone. The War Girl followed up by stabbed the tail with her new spear.

It roared out in pain as it tried to snap her in half with one of it claws. She waited until the right moment and then jumped onto the claw before pushing off and taking out a sword to slice off the tail before discarding that to stab the spear into the scorpion's skull, killing it.

Naruto was fighting off another with both his blade rapidly blocking the claws and tail as best he could. When he found an opening, he created a clone, which took out some of its legs.

It backed up at this point and with Naruto's danger sense going in high gear, he replaced himself with the clone. It was taken out a second later by the tail of the other scorpion. Naruto found himself surround on both sides by the last two scorpions.

As the two raised their tailed to stab him, he saw Clarisse running to help him. He gave her a disarming smile and she stopped. That meant he was prepared, but it was still nerve racking seeing the one you love in that situation. Especially when the tails struck out rapidly going through, signifying that he was once more a clone. But the funny thing about all this was the fact the tail kept on going and stabbed each other in the face, disorienting them long enough for Naruto to shout, "NOW!"

Deciding to knock off his head later for making her worry for nothing, she took the opportunity to stab one in the skull like she did the other and killing it while Naruto use a wind powered sword to run through the beast, cutting it in half.

Looking to the others, he saw that they finished as well and that Zoe and Lee had made it back down the ground and were happy that it was over. Clarisse took this opportunity to take the golden laurels off one of the scorpions corpses, basically declaring herself the winner while she and handed the silk bags tot Naruto and the other teams.

"Well then." Naruto replied with a smile. "That went well."

"Hell yeah it did!" Travis shouted with glee.

"What now?" Lee asked.

"We must find Chiron and the others." Zoe declared before the eight campers left the area with Charles complimenting Naruto on his battle plan, which made Clarisse agree.

XXXXX

**Ok, I am ending that right there. I am sorry for the stupidly longtime it took to update this and I have an excuse. Blame Pokemon X and reason Percy and Annabeth didn't fight alongside them was because they found the entrance the Labyrinth...remember?  
**

**REVIEW!**


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